Improvement in corn-planters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER M. WEISEL, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 156,687, dated November 10, 1874; application tiled To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER M. Wnisni., of Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Machine for Planting Corn; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a front view of my machine.' Pig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detached view of the dropping mechanism. Fig.-4 is a similar view of the devices for throwing the dropping mechanism out of gear. As will be seen by reference to the draw ings the machine is a two-wheeled carriage, into the axle of which, B, are mortised two upr1ght posts, D D, supporting the hoppers b b and the seat a. Through the posts b b passes the shaft m, bearing the wheels g g, which have their circumferences pierced at regular intervals with small holes, in which are inserted the pins h it, the number of which may be varied according to the distance desired between the hills of corn. In the bottom of eachwof the hoppers b b is a movable slide, s, held in place by a spring, t. In the slide s is a hole, c, the size of which may be regulated to hold any number of grains ofcorn by means of a set-screw, which is too small to be represented in the drawings, and on the under side of the slide s is a projection, Z. On the inside of each of the -hoppers b b, with its lower edge resting on the upper surface of the slide s, is a plate of india-rubber, H, to prevent the grains of corn from being broken by pressure against the edge of the hoppers b b. At one end of the shaft m is a cog-wheel, C, worked by another cog-wheel, d, of the same diameter, which is securely fastened to the hub ofthe carriage-wheel. The end of the shaft m at A works in a movable box, p, which may be raised or lowered by means of the crank u, thus putting the machine in or out of gear, as may be needed. To the rear of the axle B is hung the frame F, to which are attached the plows u u and the shovels w w, as represented at G. To the rear of each (f the hoppers b b is attached a tube, 7c, passing July 24, i874.

down between the plows a u and the shovels w w, and serving to conduct the corn to the earth, the distance asnnder of these tubes and of the plows u u determining the distance between the rows ofV corn. In the working machine this distance is three and a half feet, being the usual space between rows bf corn, and the carriagewheels are twentyeight inches in diameter, or about seven feet in cir- J cuinference, so that, with two pins, h h, ex-

'actly opposite each other in the circumferences of the wheels g g, the corn will be dropped in hills three and a half feet apart, and can be worked both ways. The above dimensions may, however, be increased or diminished, if desired.

The crank a and its attachments, as they appear in the drawings, or the ordinary contrivance, may be used indifferently for throwing the machine out of gear at the end of the rows, or when driving it to or from the field.`

rJlhe operation of the machine is as follows: Suppose the machine in the field and in gear, the team hitched to it, the driver in his seat, and the hoppers b b lled with corn. When the team is started, the motion of the carriage-wheels is communicated by the cogwheels cl and C to the shaft m, by which the wheels g g are made to revolve, bringing the pins h IL successively against the projection Z on the under side of the movable slide s in each of the hoppers b b. The slide s is thus pushed back until the hole c, filled with corn, is over the Inoutli of the tube lc, when the corn drops into the tube k, and slide s, released from the pressure of the pins l1l 7L, is drawn back to its place by the spring t, while the corn, falling down through the tube k, drops into the furrows made in the earth by the plows u u, and is immediately covered by the shovels 'w w. At the end of the rows the driver, without leaving his seat, by means of the crank n, or other similar contrivance, throws the machine out of gear, and, by means of a rod or chain attached to .the rear of the frame F, raises the plows u u out of the earth, and drives to any point desired without injury to the machine.

I am aware that a shaft having tappetwheels attached to `it to operate the slides is not in itself new, and this I disclaim.

Q iseev My invention consists in the arrangement gear with the driving-Wheel d on the axle, and combination of parts as shown and dewith the Wheels g and spring-slides in the scribed. feed-boxes, substantially as shown and de- What I claim as my invention7 and desire to scribed.

secure by Letters Patent, is PETER M. WEISEL.

The combination ofthe shaft m, having one Witnesses:

end bearing in the box p, and the other mov- JOHN TROUT,

ing' vertically to throw the wheel O out of HENRY S. LUCAS. 

